Midwest Feather Report
Updates:
01/13/04 - Added first fight reviews and a news archive link
01/10/04 - Added first set of previews and predictions
Click here for the news archives.
Introduction:
As has been recently reported on the BBS and is blatently obvious, many of the Midwest regional weight divisions are virtual wastelands with little or no activity. In looking thru the fighter rankings for our division this morning, I decided to pick a division and do a meager commentary to try to help spur some activity in one of the weight divisions. Since there were only 2 fighters in Feathers when I looked thru the rankings, I created a new guy there and started this. The plan is just to write the standard weekly previews and reviews, probably do a lame prediction section and probably offer some semi-meaningless awards as I see fit.
Week 2 previews:
This week there are 6 big Midwest featherweight fights. The top bill is the title fight between a car and potential superhero. Also featured this week is a rematch of last weeks draw, a new incarnation of a previously disgraced fighter and 6 fighters making their first trip to the TBG ring. It should be an interesting set of fights and I am sure to miss more than I get right in the following predictions. Good luck to all this week and I'll be back with more to say once the fights have been run!
Without further ado, here come the previews...
Title Fight: #1 Porsche 911 GT2 vs SuperDude III
GT2 comes in with a rating point and 3 status point advantage over SuperDude III. However, is coming off a disappointing loss to a stat monster while SuperDude III comes in off his hot 2-0 start. All things considered, the car is the easy choice but on a gut call, I see big things in SuperDude's future and thus pick him to upset the WCOA fighter in a close decision.
#3 Vincent "The Viper" Vercetti vs #9 LadyHawk
"The Viper" got an easy win last week when his opponent completely failed to appear in the fight. This week Ashsaber takes his young prospect against a new Bectel fighter in LadyHawk. With much of the Bectel gym's time dedicated to taking the title with SD III, I am going with "The Viper" to shock the boxing world with another big win over a more experienced manager.
#4 Iggy Featherman vs #5 Gabrielle "The Little Lady" Tanner
Last weeks draw left much to be desired, thus the regional promoters saw fit to match these 2 up again this week. Iggy felt he had a solid chance to win last week but let it slip through his fingers. Each fighter came in last week with a relatively conservative fight plan. Will it be more of the same or a more aggressive fight this time around? Time will tell but as will likely always be the case, I will pick my fighter to win. Go Iggy!!!
#6 FBG vs #12 Tickle Me With A Feather
Tickle lost a tough bout against a better conditioned NKM fighter last week. This week he draws a tough new manager in young gun (FBG) and his like named fighter FBG. Once again going against the experienced, I will pick FBG to get off to the good start with ZWIP's Tickle taking a tough 0-2 beginning.
#7 water under the bridge vs #11 Hawk Girl
A couple of experienced gyms do battle with a couple of brand new fighters. In this one I am going to pick water under the bridge to win, despite the too long name I just had to type again.
#8 Feather "Red Belt" Marsolo vs #10 Ace Fontaine Jr. II
Brooklyn_12 quickly dumped version 1.0 of Fontaine after a training snafu caused a bit of an embarassment for the gym. He shows back up in the division with Ace Fontaine version 2.0. Unfortunately for him, he immediatly draws an NKM fighter in "Red Belt" Marsolo. Since all NKM fighters appear to start 5-0 or better these days, I will go with Feather "Red Belt" to win.
Iggy Featherman and "The Little Lady" related?
One might think so. They say a tie is like kissing your sister. Maybe the 2 boxer are secretly related and no one told them. Either way, they boxed off to a tie as Iggy controlled much of the pace but was too conservative in his score conditionals allowing the lady to pull out the tie in the late rounds. Is a rematch possible next week? Only time will tell.
Fontaine Jr. Fails to Appear at Fight, Dumped Immediately!
Vincent "The Viper" Vercetti was able to overcome his managers lack of experience by Ace Fontaine Jr. failing to fight back! The boxing world is demanding an inquiry into this bout. Fontaine Jr. ran scared for 12 rounds and failed to mount an attack ever. his manager, Brooklyn_12, had his locker cleaned out and his gear waiting on the sidewalk before the fight even ended. Members of the gym were unavailable for comment. Ashsaber and "The Viper" were also unavailable for comment but the eyes of the inquisition will follow his career closely after this fishy result!!!
Rotelle "Carb Whip" Marsolo Wins Regional Title, Skips Town with the Belt!
"Carb Whip" opened an early cut on Zwip's Tickle Me With A Feather and used superior conditioning to pick up the Midwest Feather Title. Immediately upon winning the title, Marsolo and his manager, Marsolo, held a press conference to announce that they would be testing the world waters. Many in attendance felt the jump to the world rankings was rather premature but the move was apparently done to open the door for another NKM fighter to challenge for the belt.
Non-regional Fight Roundup
In other news, Porsche 911 GT2 was unable to overcome the major APs he was down to the European stat monster, Sebastian Von Ryan. 911 is now 6-3 (1/0) but should get the stat advantage this week in a regional title bout against SuperDude III. SD III overcame the higher rated Canadian, S J McCoy, to improve to 2-0 in his young career.
Regional competition should heat up next week with a fight card currently expected to include 5 regional bouts. Stay tuned for more information.
Iggy Featherman vs Gabrielle "The Little Lady" Tanner
The first fight in each boxer's career. The lifetime H2H between the gyms favors The Iguana 5-3. Since this is my commentary, I have to pick Iggy Featherman to win since he is my fighter.
Ace Fontaine Jr. vs Vincent "The Viper" Vercetti
As are all the fights previewed this week, these guys are stepping into the TBG ring for the first time. Fontaine fights for Brooklyn_12 gym while "The Viper" is from new pro manager Ashsaber. Based purely on the experience advantage of the Brooklyn_12 gym, I will pick Ace Fontaine Jr. to emerge victorious.
Rotelle "Carb Whip" Marsolo vs Tickle Me With A Feather
This is the marquee matchup of the week, based soley on the reputation of the gym managers. "Carb Whip" is obviously an NKM creation (career record 1323-762-156 with 3 world titles) while Tickle comes out of Zwip's gym (1090-803-143 with 10 world titles). This should be quite the interesting matchup. After flipping a coin, I am picking Rotelle "Carb Whip" Marsolo to win this one.
Fight Prediction results:
As of now, I only plan on picking fights where both contestants are in the Midwest region rankings.
Week 1: 1-1-1
Overall: 1-1-1